Poultry-killer



(E0 Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G.K.0LSON.

POULTRY KILLER.

No. 549,008. Pate nted 001;. 29, 1895.

WITNESSES. INVENTOR A TTOHNEYS.

' ANDREW B.GRMQAM.PHOTOUTHQWASHING'ION.BL.

2 Sheets-'Sheet 2. A

NH 0L SE LK Y (No Model.)

Patented Oct; 29,1895.

INVENTOI? BY H ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES K. OLSON, OF RED WING, MINNESOTA.

POULTRY-KILLER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 549,008, dated October 29, 1895.

Application filed March 30, 1895.

To all whom it may concern-.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES K. OLSON, of Red Wing, in the county of Goodhue and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and Improved Poultry-Killer, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improvement in poultry-killers; and it has for its object to provide a machine which will be exceedingly simple, durable, and economic, and humane in its action, being so constructed that the head of the fowl will be held firmly in a fixed position while the neck of the fowl is subjected to a sudden blow, stunning the fowl,

and at the same time aknife is passed through the neck, separating the vertebrae, killing the fowl, and permitting it to bleed copiously.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

' power.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the machine constructed to be operated by foot- Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of the upper portion of the machine. Fig. 3 is a view of the opposite side of the machine to that shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is'afrontelevation of the machine; and Fig. 5 is a plan view of the table and likewise a plan view of the knife-carrying arm and the knife, showing the position of the two with relation to each other. 7

The machine may be worked either by hand or by foot power. When operated by footpower a standard 10 is employed, adapted to uphold the machine, being provided with a suitable base 11, and the body portion A of the machine is secured in any suitable or approved manner in the upper portion of the aforesaid standard. The body ofthe machine is curved upwardly and rearwardly, being bifurcated at the top, providing aforwardlyextending arm 12 and a rearwardly-extendin g arm 13. Theforwardly-extending arm at its forward end is curved downward in a vertical direction, and is made to terminate in a fork 14, and at one side of the said fork, the

Serial No. 543,818- (No model.)

right-hand side preferably, an arched hood 16 is formed, as shown best in Figs. 1 and 4.

A yielding arm 16 is fulcrumed at its rear end uponthe rear arm 13 of the body at the left-hand side thereof, and this arm is curved downwardly and then upwardly beneath the fork of the fixed arm 12 of the body, as shown best in Fig. 3. The upper end of the movable arm 16 is adapted to carry a table 17, and to that end the said upper end of the arm is made considerably wider than its other portion, being provided near the center with a concavity 18 and at each end withlugs 19, extending in direction of the right-hand side of the machine, and the table 17 is secured upon these lugs by bolts or the equivalents thereof, and it may also be remarked that the upper forward portion of the said movable arm 16 is convexed, meeting'the concaved section 18, and

the table where it is attached to the arm is made to follow the contour thereof; but the table is provided with a recess 20, extending from the central portion of its left-hand edge to within a predetermined distance of the righthand edge, as shown in Fig. 5, whereby an opening 21 is obtained between the right-hand side of the movable arm and what may be termed the table carrying arm and the innerleft-hand edge of the table, and the tablecarrying arm is held in an upper position, or in such position that the members of the fork 14 of the body Will enter the opening 21 in the table by means of a spring 22, which has hearing at its upper end against the under portion of the table-carrying arm nearits fulcrum, the

other end of the spring being secured firmly to the body of the machine, as shown in Fig. 3. Therefore, the table-carrying arm 16 is yielding and the tension exerted thereon by the spring is regulated by an adjusting-screw 23, having bearing against the spring, as is also shown in Fig. 3.

A knife-carrying arm 24: is pivoted at its upper end to the right-hand side of the rear arm or extension13 of the body, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This arm is curved upwardly at its free end, and is provided with a concaved surface 25 at said end, forming substantially a jaw adapted to act in connection with the arched hood on the forward arm of the body. A knife 26 is secured in the free end of the arm 24 through the medium of a yoke 27 or its equivalenhthe said arm ex: tending upwardly beyond the central portion of the jaw 25.

When the machine is operated by handpower a handle is attached to the knife-carrying arm at or near its free end, whereby it may be carried upward; but when foot-power is employed, as shown in the drawings, a pitman 28 is pivotally connected with the arm 24, and likewise with a foot-treadle 29, fulcrumed at the base of the machine-support, and a spring 30 is also employed, connected with the upper end of the pitman and with the standard 10, the spring acting to hold the knife in the lower position. (Shown in Figs. 1 and i In operation the neck of the fowl is placed upon the front upper portion of the table, and as the table is pressed downward the neck is carried inward until it shall have passed the outer fork of the body-arm 12,whereupon the table will return upward to substantially its normal position, and the neck will be held between the said fork and the curved section 18 of the arm, which will be immediately be-.

low it. The chicken or fowl having been placed in position, it is simply necessary to press down upon the treadle 29, whereupon the knife-carrying arm will be thrown upward forcibly, and its jaw 25 will pass up through the opening 21 in the table immediately beneath the hood of the body-arm 1:2 and will strike the neck of the chicken such a blow as to stun it, while at the same time the knife 26 will penetrate the neck, separating the vertebrze and permitting the fowl to bleed. The knife-arm will return to its normal position when the treadle is released.

The upward movement of the knife-carry ing arm is limited by an adjustingscrew 31 on said arm coming in contact with a lug 32 011 the forked armof the body, as shown best in Fig. 2.

This machine is exceedingly simple. It is durable and economic, easily operated, and not liable to get out of order, while the mode of killing is exceedingly humane.

In Fig. 4 I have illustrated the knife-carrying arm in positive lines in its upper position, and have likewise indicated the same position of the arm in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

Having thus described my invention, 1

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Paten t- 1. In a poultry-killing machine, a fixed forked arm, a yielding table held beneath the arm, having an opening therein, and a pivoted knife carrying arm, the knife of which is adapted to pass up through the table adjacent to the fork of the fixed arm, as and for the purpose specified.

2. A poultry killer, the same consisting of a fixed arm having its forward end downwardly curved and forked and provided with a hood at its forked end, a yielding support provided with a table at its free end, the said table being located beneath the fork of the fixed arm, receiving the same, a knife-carrying arm pivoted to the fixed support and curved to pass upward through the table at its free end beneath the hood of the fixed arm, the said arm being provided with a jaw at its free end and a knife at said jaw, as and for the purpose specified.

3. In a poultryikiller, the combination, with a body portion having a forwardly-extending arm, the forward arm being carried downward and made to terminate in afork, and provided with a hood at its forked end,of a spring-com trolled arm pivoted to one side of the body, the said arm being carried upward at its free end beneath the fork of the body arm,,being provided with an opening to receive the same, a knife-carrying arm likewise pivoted on the body and provided with an arched jaw at its free end, and a knife extending beyond the jaw, the knife and jaw being adapted to enter the opening in the table beneath the hood, and means, substantially as described, for operating the knife-carrying jaw, as and for the purpose specified.

4. In a poultry killer, the combination, with a body section having a forwardly and downwardly extending arm terminating in a fork and provided with a hood adjacent to the fork, and a spring-controlled arm pivotally connected with the body and curved upward beneath the forked end of the body arm, being provided at its upper end with a table having an opening therein, the upper end of the said table-carrying arm being convexed at its outer end and concaved at its center, of a knife-carrying arm pivoted to the body and having its free end arched in direction of the opening in the table through which it is adapted to pass, the said end of the arm being provided with a knife, as and for the purpose set forth.

' CHARLES K. OLSON. Witnesses:

E. II. HOARD, N. P. GRANouIsT. 

